


What ‘HTTYD: The Hidden World’ Could Have Been

by 10Blue10



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Essays, The Hidden World, Writing Improvements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-06
Updated: 2020-10-06
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:20:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26862772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/10Blue10/pseuds/10Blue10
Summary: On impulse I decided to compile a bunch of suggestions for how HTTYD3 could have been written better.
Comments: 15
Kudos: 20





	What ‘HTTYD: The Hidden World’ Could Have Been

Introduction 

You’ve probably heard the phrase “there are no bad ideas, only bad execution.” (Of course, some ideas are better than others, and it’s a lot harder to write a contentious storyline _well_ than it is to write a good storyline poorly.) THW is one such example. I like the _idea_ of Hiccup and Toothless learning to be independent from each other. I like the _idea_ of a villain as a foil/counterpart to Hiccup. I like the _idea_ of Toothless finding a mate. The problem is that these ideas stopped at “that would be good.” (Another problem is that some of the ideas in THW just weren’t that good to start with). 

I’ve already made a critique of the movie, and others have made better written ones. This essay is kind of a follow up to that; a culmination of my various ideas on how the more egregious writing flaws could have been improved. I’m not saying this is what HTTYD3 _should_ have been, only what it _could_ have been. Hopefully it’s of some interest and use to fellow writers, especially those of you who are thinking of rewriting this movie.

* * *

HTTYD:THW and “What’s The Point?” 

I think the reason I and many others still hold such disdain for The Hidden World, even almost two years after its release, is that it implicitly supports what I call the ‘what’s the point?’ effect. A sort of collective learned helplessness about the world. 

There are a lot of things wrong with the world, things that we can and should change, but it’s all too easy to fall into this self-defeating mindset. Rather than making a collective effort, we assume and are told our own minor contributions can’t possibly make a meaningful difference, so what’s the point? We’re told that there will always be selfish, greedy or ignorant people standing against us, so what’s the point? 

I’m not trying to sound like a paragon; I’m guilty of this myself. Old habits are hard to break, and going against the grain is even harder. Then HTTYD3 comes along...

We’ve all heard the adage “show, don’t tell.” This movie does both, but they also contradict each other. We’re _told_ that the dragons will return in peace when humans “learn how to get along”, but by _showing_ us them sending the dragons away and not continuing to fight for change, the characters are implying that change is too difficult, and that it’s more important to keep to the status quo. Again....what’s the point?

So that’s my biggest issue with this movie. They didn’t need that ending. They could have had it conclude with the characters acknowledging that maybe _they_ can’t change the world, not in their lifetimes, but they can set things in motion for future generations to keep their message alive. It would have been an uplifting message. 

To be honest, if the movie had ended with Hiccup deciding to let Toothless go - and _only_ Toothless, with none of the other dragons leaving - I’d have been fine with it. I’d be sad they were separated, of course, but it would have shown the moral of ‘if you love them let them go’ much better, without them making a decision that affects the entire world without consulting anyone else. One way is selfless, the other is selfish.

* * *

The Ideas 

As I said in the introduction, there are ideas within THW that I like the concept of, even though I hate the execution. So here are a few ways they could have improved: 

**Hiccup and Toothless being codependent**

I personally never interpreted their relationship as such, but let’s not get into that. We know that Toothless doesn’t like to fly without Hiccup, and we know that Hiccup is more interested in dragons than in being chief. They could’ve shown how Hiccup was avoiding his chief duties by using the excuse that he needed to fly with Toothless. Shown how Toothless not having an auto-tail made it harder for him to be the alpha. 

Then they could've gone in one of two ways. Either have the characters affirm they’re still best friends despite having responsibilities to more than each other. Or better yet, have one or both of them come to the conclusion that they’re just not suited to being leaders. Hiccup had potential but Toothless was never shown as a good alpha at all. Either way, the pair didn’t have to separate entirely to learn how to be independent. 

**Grimmel as a dark foil to Hiccup**

It’s a pretty common trope - the villain is what the hero might have been had they gone down a darker path. Honestly I’m surprised Grimmel never uttered the words “we’re not so different”, but I suppose that would be too on the nose even for Dean. 

Jokes aside, here’s some ideas on how Grimmel could’ve been a dark foil to Hiccup: 

Drago used a lot of dragon themed war machines; you can see pictures of them in the HTTYD2 art book. What if Grimmel revealed _he’s_ the one who invented those? Hiccup builds dragon-inspired inventions all the time, so his dark foil should do the same, only Grimmel is inventing things to trap and hurt dragons rather than tame and help them. This would also have helped to give Grimmel some more character depth. 

They could’ve dropped the “I killed a Night Fury as it slept” backstory and have him reveal that he _shot down_ a Night Fury and then killed it the way Hiccup couldn’t bring himself to kill Toothless. Instead of claiming to have killed _every_ Night Fury, which is far too unrealistic, they could’ve shown that he hunts and kills them because people are only impressed when he takes out the rarest and most dangerous dragons. 

Or made it so he _trained_ the Deathgrippers instead of drugging them, just using crueler methods than his counterpart. Hiccup uses positive reinforcement and trust to train dragons; so his dark foil should use negative reinforcement and fear. Maybe the DGs could’ve been conditioned Pavlovian style to attack at the sound of that whistle; no need for plot convenient mind-control juice. #TheDeathgrippersdeservedbetter. 

Honestly the DGs turning on Grimmel would have been so very satisfying to watch.

**Toothless finding a mate**

Again, I never minded the idea of Toothless falling in love, just the idea that he had to choose between his new girlfriend and his best friend...and then chose the former. I mean seriously, after six years of trust and loyalty, a pretty face is all it takes for him to decide “well, I’m out. So long Hiccup, and thanks for all the fish”? I don’t think so. 

If it were me, I’d have framed the choice as not ‘Hiccup vs Light Fury’, but ‘life with humans vs life with his own kind’. In other words, they should have introduced more Night Furies! Especially after teasing us so much. Not just one vapid pretty female, but a whole flock - maybe they could have _recognised_ Toothless, because they were really his long lost family but left him behind by mistake. Tada, tragic backstory. 

Choosing between blood family and found family would’ve been an interesting internal conflict for Toothless. He could have been tempted to live with them because he feared Hiccup wouldn’t have as much time for him anymore, being chief and soon getting married. Y’know, more of a motivation than “I need to bang”. In this case, meeting a female Fury would just be another layer of temptation added into the mix. 

Of course, any potential love interest should also be a character in their own right.   
  


* * *

The Light Fury 

Putting aside the issues I have with her design, because this is about the writing, my main complaint with the LF is that they never really give her a developed personality. 

<https://achillesmonochrome.tumblr.com/post/188126685849/light-fury-personality-and-criticism>

A friend of mine made a tumblr post explaining how they interpreted the Light Fury’s personality, based on hints we get in the movie. It’s very well written and helpful, but the fact that he had to do analysis to figure this out doesn’t exactly reflect well on the writers. There’s a difference between being vague and mysterious and being bland. 

[ https://youtu.be/kyVYx_c5PPQ ](https://youtu.be/kyVYx_c5PPQ)

This video is a deleted scene, an alternative version of Toothless’ and the Light Fury’s romantic flight. It’s actually better than what we got, but I digress. The LF gets a lot of characterisation in this scene. At first she’s surprised to see Toothless flying alone; then she plays hard to get and acts snobbish. He knocks into her by mistake and instead of getting huffy, she laughs and playfully bounces on him in ‘retaliation’. 

Imo they should have gone with this instead. It feels kind of misogynistic for them to praise the Light Fury (or rather themselves) for being so graceful and feminine, but not let her show a range of emotions or design her to look less...marshmallow-y. 

Then there’s her cloaking ability. Again, I don’t dislike the concept as such, just the way it was portrayed. For one thing it’s really inconsistent; she’s supposed to need to fly through her own fire, but there are a few moments (like in the opening scenes) where it looks like she just turned invisible without that. Also, when she does it the effect only lasts a few seconds...not really good camouflage. Instead they could’ve: 

Had her be able to turn invisible at will, the same way that the Changewings can or given her a similar but different ability, like turning all her scales darker or lighter.   
  


* * *

The Characters

Hiccup - as said earlier, they could have had an arc for him where he either grew as a leader OR determined he’s just not suited for the role. The movie shows him focusing more on the dragons than on the Vikings; despite taking on the mantle of chief he’s still trying to be ‘the dragon guy’. It’d have been interesting to see him realise he can be more than that without shoehorning in the books ending and getting rid of them all. 

Toothless - they reduced him to a slobbery horny dog and I hate that. They could’ve shown him still feeling guilty over Stoick’s death, or doubting if Hiccup still needs him and vice versa. At the very least I wish they’d shown him actually missing his best friend, rather than imply that Toothless was _irritated_ by Hiccup looking for him. Most of all, they should have kept him in character instead of just “ooh pretty girl k bye.” 

Astrid - oh boy. Between Gobber’s “you wear the pants in this relationship” and Valka’s “you should show him the truth”, it feels like the writers are implying Astrid’s role is to be Hiccup’s keeper. Or ‘true support’ as they put it. They could have had her stand up to everyone saying they should marry, not because she doesn’t want to be with Hiccup, but because she’s not gonna wed the chief just to please everyone else. 

Valka - if they needed exposition about the Hidden World, why not let the woman who _travelled around_ give it! They could’ve had her bond with Hiccup over their shared love of dragons, but not really know how to be a mother figure to him. She didn’t raise him after all, and I wish we’d seen them be still a bit awkward around each other. 

Gobber - again, nothing too deep here. They could’ve had him point out that Hiccup wasn’t taking his role as Chief of Berk seriously, and suggest giving Toothless the auto fin. Oh, and they should’ve dropped the whole ‘flirting with someone decades younger than’ him thing. There are better and less creepy ways to show gay rep. 

Eret - I almost forgot about him, much like the writers. Ha. They should’ve at least had him recognise the Deathgripper venom in that capsule dart thing. Seriously, if he knew about Grimmel, why wouldn’t he also know about the drugged attack dragons? 

Snotlout - they should’ve dropped the creepy flirting with Valka (because, eww, she’s a widow and also maybe his aunt?) and had him flirt with Eret instead. I mean RTTE implied he’s bi, given the way he reacts to ‘Thor Bonecrusher’, so they could have had some representation! Or with Tuffnut - forget Rufflegs, how about some Tufflout? 

Tuffnut - the beard joke got old fast. Tuff having a fake beard - hilarious. Tuff talking constantly about his fake beard - annoying. Also, instead of trying to ‘help’ Hiccup impress Astrid, which honestly came across as insulting, they could have had him and Ruffnut be trying to plan their wedding for them. With a lot of weird Thorston flair. 

Ruffnut - they shouldn’t have had her act like an idiot, simple as. She and Tuff are supposed to be pranksters, so they could’ve shown them pranking the hunters when on raids for a laugh. Also they should’ve had them shown they care for each other. 

Fishlegs - I think they shouldn’t have had him bring a baby dragon on raids, because as cute as Fishmeat was, it never felt in character for Fishlegs of all people to put a baby dragon at risk. Also, he didn’t need to have a flight suit imo. It looked ridiculous.

Grimmel- they made every other character act dumber in order to make him seem clever, and that’s bad writing. For example, imagine if instead of leaving her unbound in the forest, he’d left the unconscious Light Fury on the beach with her wings tied up as if she’d just swam there or been washed ashore, in order to cover his tracks more. 

The Warlords - these guys really weren’t much of a threat in the end. Personally I think the writers should’ve just kept Drago around for the 3rd movie. Imagine him and Grimmel having to work together but clearly hating each other’s guts the entire time.   
  


* * *

The Hidden World

As in the location, not the movie as a whole, obviously. They didn’t need the crystal cave when the chunk error was right there. I find it ironic, and by ironic I mean frustrating, that the movie shows us an island with plenty of fresh water and space that can’t be reached by humans - in other words, an _actual_ dragon paradise - and then decides that where these winged creatures _really_ belong is underground. 

They could’ve combined the two locations; that would make a lot more sense than a hole in the ocean. Also, it’s kind of strange that New Berk wasn’t already inhabited by dragons (that’s where the Night Furies could have been!). Or maybe it was and they got subsumed against their will into Toothless’ flock because he’s the ‘King of Dragons’. Speaking of which, they should have also dropped all of that nonsense. 

It makes no sense and has zero bearing on Toothless as a character, just like him being the ‘last of his kind’. All it does in the movie is give him an excuse to pose and get worshipped for existing. You know what would have been an awesome idea?

https://10blue10.tumblr.com/post/629782973563207680/so-this-is-from-the-httyd-art-book-concept-art-of   
  
There is concept art of the Red Death, from the HTTYD art book. Tell me this dragon doesn’t look like it belongs in the Hidden World. We had a stupidly huge boss dragon in the other two movies! Stupidly huge boss dragons are cool! Really, the Hidden World itself should have already had an alpha, and I wish it had been _this_ badass. 

Where was I? Oh, yeah. If they were going to have a Fury species that had evolved underground (which in fairness would justify the white scales), imagine if they’d tweaked the designs of dragons we know to make more of them be subspecies? I know that’s related to animation, and I understand that it’s not so easy to redesign things like that. I just think it would’ve been cool to see other cave adapted species. 

* * *

Conclusion

That’s all I can think of for now; I’m sure you guys will suggest more great ideas in the comments. Also, if you thought the movie was fine as it is, that’s okay. You don’t have to agree with this. I just think the writers missed out on a lot of potential for the sake of cheap jokes and an ending that fit with the books, but not the movie franchise. If you’re reading this essay first and haven’t seen my critique, here’s a link to it as well: 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/18606790/chapters/44113657


End file.
